Sabert: Streamlining Operations and Improving User Support with SAP Software

Sabert Corporation Industry Consumer products Products and Services Design, manufacture, and distribution of solutions for packaging, displaying, serving, and storing food products Web Site www.sabert.com SAP SAP Business All-in-One for Consumer Products solution Partner Answerthink Inc. (www.answerthink.com) Sabert Corporation wanted to replace its legacy back-office software with a powerful and scalable solution that could help position the company for global expansion. A savvy IT team integrated costing across manufacturing and distribution functions through implementation of the SAP Business All-in-One for Consumer Products solution. Since streamlining processes for higher profitability, Sabert IT has also been able to do more with less, stabilizing staff levels even as transaction volumes rise. 2 / 9 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

Becoming a leader in food packaging Founded in 1983 in New York City, Sabert Corporation is a world leader and proven innovator in the food packaging industry. The company designs, manufactures, and distributes various solutions for packaging, displaying, serving, and storing food products. It has a big footprint in the food service industry, particularly among casual restaurants, caterers, food distribution chains, quick-service outlets, and packer-processors. Its products include plastic bowls, platters, to-go containers, tableware, and serving ware. It serves consumer markets, in which its sales of disposable cutlery, utensils, plates, and appetizer dishes through grocery chains, buyer s clubs, and party stores are growing. Sabert also sells environmentally friendly products made from pulp and postconsumer resins. Sabert has three manufacturing plants and distribution facilities in the United States, along with a separate headquarters and research and development center. Additional manufacturing and distribution facilities are located in Belgium and China. Sabert is one of the largest food packaging companies in North America. 3 / 9 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

Looking for tight integration and strong scalability Like many midsize companies, Sabert had constructed an enterprise resource planning environment piece by piece during the 1990s. By the turn of the millennium, its second-tier applications were reaching the limits of their capacity, particularly in cross-functional costing. Sabert wanted to maximize ROI by tightening cost control throughout procurement, production, and distribution using one comprehensive solution. The company s vision also included a strategy for growth by acquisition supported by an infrastructure that could expand smoothly to absorb additional systems organically. It was time to replace the aging, disparate financial and manufacturing applications with an integrated enterprise-level solution built for scalability. Streamlining operations and improving services were primary objectives for the IT group. And the ultimate corporate goal was to enable Sabert s planned global expansion. As Gary Ziznewski, chief operating officer and CFO explains, We knew our overall goal was to align ourselves cost-effectively with a strategy that would make Sabert a truly multinational organization. To set ourselves up for worldwide growth, we needed to bring our IT infrastructure to the next level to be sure we had the tools in place for careful planning and efficient distribution. Gary Ziznewski, Chief Operating Officer and CFO, Sabert Corporation 4 / 9 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

Meeting all the functional requirements The chief requirements for Sabert s program were ease of integration and a globally scalable application platform. The IT team, led by Mike Freeman, vice president for IT, also placed high value on built-in best practices and limited need for customization. The search for a solution provider was a major project, involving several phases of evaluation and demonstrations by five initial candidates. SAP was not in the original mix. When invited aboard late in the process, however, SAP was able to demonstrate that it could more closely meet Sabert s functional requirements than the other providers, while also offering competitive pricing. So with its established global reach and rapid implementation program, SAP, along with implementation partner Answerthink Inc., eventually carried the day. The evaluation team recommended purchase of what is now the SAP Business All-in-One for Consumer Products solution. The search team devised a long list of requirements, and SAP had more functionality and competitive pricing all up and down the list. Mike Freeman, Vice President for IT, Sabert Corporation 5 / 9 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

Using a rapid-deployment approach The Answerthink staff served as the feet on the ground during the migration of data from the homegrown system. The project team was able to align the software from the outset to Sabert s critical business objectives for advanced planning optimization (APO) and business planning consolidation (BPC). And team members excelled at rapid, collaborative decision making throughout the implementation. To its credit, the implementation team completed the U.S. implementation of the full suite of SAP functionality except human capital management everything that Sabert intended to use within 90 days. The warehouse management function even included features for mobile data entry. The whole project came in under budget. And less than two months later, the plant in Belgium was also running the SAP Business All-in-One solution. 3 months To implement all desired SAP functionality 6 / 9 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

Integrating inventory management with order entry The solution takes full advantage of the deep and broad process integration enabled by the software in SAP Business All-in-One solutions. Sabert s entire infrastructure is based on a single global instance of the SAP software implemented according to proven best practices. Freeman took over IT leadership when the solution was about three years old. My first job was to make sure Sabert was fully exploiting all aspects of the SAP solution that are relevant to our business, he explains. The infrastructure today helps him and just four other IT experts successfully integrate and finetune processes for order entry, materials management, inventory control, logistics, and accounting. Currently, some 60% of Sabert s sizable order entry volume comes in via electronic data interchange, which the solution handles effortlessly. When it comes to meeting a set of requirements heavy on the planning and distribution side like ours, I knew when I came on board that this SAP Business All-in-One solution was a winner. Mike Freeman, Vice President for IT, Sabert Corporation 7 / 9 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

Adding up the benefits In Sabert s food-service world, APO and BPC are essential functions. And they are likewise top areas of expertise for SAP. Freeman s team has been able to ensure high availability of products and smooth distribution while keep staffing levels low even as the volume of transactions climbs. And Sabert was able to bring a recently acquired company into the fold in a matter of weeks. It was quick and easy to integrate the company s unique processes into our SAP software landscape, confirms Freeman. Increased productivity and accuracy in warehousing have brought corresponding improvements in corporate profitability and customer satisfaction. And with its savings from optimized use of resources, IT can expand support efforts to help maintain high levels of user satisfaction. I d estimate that over the years we ve been able to make good use of close to 90% of the entire functionality offered by our SAP Business All-in-One solution. Mike Freeman, Vice President for IT, Sabert Corporation 8 / 9 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved.

Sabert Maintaining the momentum Strategies at Sabert for the next few years call for adding SAP BusinessObjects business intelligence solutions to the mix. Freeman s goal is to maximize the way decision makers obtain and use analytics to mine the wealth of data that can be derived from the SAP software. We are 100% reliant on our sturdy SAP infrastructure these days, he says. Now we re set to add analytic strength to sharpen our competitive edge in the marketplace. His longer-term strategies involve tightening the supply chain to further squeeze out waste and increase visibility into operations. CMP14972 (12/12) 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 9 / 9

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